Stevens Tells Martin E-911 Bill Likely to Pass
The FCC should assume the Senate’s E-911 bill will become law, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R- Alaska) and 10 other senators wrote in a bipartisan letter to FCC Chmn. Martin recently. The bill (S-1063), which would require VoIP providers to give customers access to E-911 services, was unanimously reported out of committee Nov. 2. “Although it is unlikely that S-1063 will become law by Nov. 28, we have no reason to believe that it will not eventually be signed into law,” the letter said, urging the commission to shape its policies based on the legislation. Nov. 28 is the FCC’s deadline for VoIP providers to be in full compliance with E-911 deployment.
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VoIP providers that can’t comply with E-911 provisions don’t have to disconnect customers (CD Nov 9 p2), as the FCC had previously ordered to the consternation of many in Congress. But the FCC also has told providers they can’t market services in areas where the service isn’t available, a feature that senators said in their letter “may impede 911 deployment by inadvertently encouraging third party competitors to deny VoIP provider access to essential 911 elements.” They also warned that the restriction could impede competition and delay 911 deployment.
The challenge will be melding the Senate bill with existing House bills, said VON Coalition Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger. “We're cautiously optimistic that this could move by unanimous consent before the Dec. recess,” Kohlenberger said. A companion bill in the House, sponsored by Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.) was written before the FCC order on E-911 for VoIP providers, so some provisions need to be updated. The telecom update legislation sponsored by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R- Tex.) also has a provision dealing with E-911 deployment that could combined with the Senate bill.
The Senate bill’s provisions that go beyond the FCC’s jurisdiction include requiring access for VoIP providers and granting immunity from liability for E-911 service providers. “Everybody agrees we should be accelerating these types of services,” Kohlenberger said. Hurricane Katrina highlighted the urgency of the issue when 36 public safety access points (PSAPs) went down, he said. With an IP-based system in place, communications could be rerouted around the damaged areas, he said.
“We're concerned that some of the rural areas won’t be able to comply” with the VoIP order, a House aide said Mon. The FCC, while making progress, is moving slowly on solving some technical problems dealing with a numbering system allowing non-local calls to be rerouted. But most problems standing in the way are “operational” and can be solved with time, the aide said. “It’s not clear what the timing is,” said CompTel Pres. Earl Comstock. “No one is giving up, but as a realistic matter it will be a long shot” to get the bill passed by the end of the year, he said. At the same time, “we'll be working over next 2 weeks to see if we can move it along. It’s a matter of getting the House to focus on it.”